NSC 23
April 19
hill has two advantages, firstly the wine
bottles will be housed in a cool, humid
subterranean basement, which is ideal, and
secondly the building will be unobtrusive
by blending into the landscape.
The majority of the structure is steelframed,
chosen for a number of reasons,
but primarily for its speed of construction.
“The vineyard has a window when
construction can take place so as not to
interfere with the harvesting and bottling,
which take place between October and
December,” says Andrew Waring Associates
Engineer Nigel Challis. “Steelwork started
in January and was complete by March,
which allowed plenty of time for the other
works to complete in this period.”
According to Phillip Kellett, other
reasons for choosing a steel-framed
solution were cost and the strength of steel.
On the upper floor, the bottles and their
stillages will be exerting up to 100t per m2
of loading onto the supporting beams.
The beams forming the first floor are a
mixture of 254UC and 305UC sections,
along with 457UBs.
The steel frame is founded on a concrete
raft foundation which was cast directly
on top of the chalk rock. The raft was
installed once the large excavation process,
was completed. The dig saw 10,000m3 of
chalk excavated and the majority of this
overburden will be used as backfill once the
building has been finished.
The steelwork is based around a fairly
regular column grid pattern; most bays
measure 6m-wide and the steel structure
for the first level is 10 bays long × four
wide. Stability is derived from cross
bracing, positioned in bays along both
main elevations.
Steel beams support precast flooring
planks with the aid of secondary beams
placed at half points within each bay.
Steelwork contractor Builders Beams
installed these planks as well as precast
wall units as part of its main steel erection
programme.
The steel frame also incorporates an
upper level cellar erected on the same grid
pattern as below, but with a slightly lower
floor-to-ceiling height of 4.5m, compared
to 4.7m. The upper level steelwork only
occupies the rear five bays, as the front
portion of this floor will comprise a timberframed
visitor centre that will be supported
on steelwork.
Not all of the steel frame accommodates
wine storage as two rows of bays on the
lower floor will house the building’s main
entrance, a wine tasting room, reception,
meeting rooms, toilets and stairs.
Meanwhile, the upper level’s timber
visitor areas will be housed around an
internal courtyard and will include a tea
room, function and wine tasting room, a
shop and offices.
The Hambledon Vineyard cellar and
visitor centre is expected to be complete by
early 2020.
Cut into a hillside, the
cellar will hold two
million bottles
Viticulture
Steel supports precast
planks for the upper
floor
The storage area is
below ground, while
the visitor facilities are
above
/The_case_for_steel#Speed_of_construction
/Braced_frames
/Steel_section_sizes
/Concept_design#Floor_grids
/Concept_design#Structural_options_for_stability
/Floor_systems#Precast_units
/Construction#Steel_erection